


We'll Be Carrying Each Other

by Kika988



Series: Keithtober/Smoochtober [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Friends to Lovers, Keith (Voltron) Has Issues, Keithtober, M/M, Past Character Death, Prompt: Fire, So it kind of evens out, We have angst but we also have fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 11:59:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16174631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kika988/pseuds/Kika988
Summary: He was yelling, but they couldn't hear him, not over the raging flames and the sound of parts of the building collapsing inside. Before Keith could wave to get his attention Shiro shook Pidge off, causing her to stumble back as he ran straight into the roaring inferno.Keith could only watch helplessly as his world disappeared into the flames.





	We'll Be Carrying Each Other

**Author's Note:**

> It's Keithtober day 2! This one got angsty, sorry 'bout that. Title is from Brother by Kodaline. Stay tuned for another one tomorrow as I continue my Keithtober/Smoochtober writings!
> 
> As always, thanks to my Drifty for her beta reading, and in this case, for helping me brainstorm the idea!

It had been a pretty intense fight; the Galra fleet they'd stumbled upon had already been assaulting the planet, but they'd switched to infiltrating with ground troops when Voltron had showed up. It had been easy enough for the lions to take out the battleship in the atmosphere, but they'd ended up fighting on the ground to take out the Galra remnants for the better part of two hours.

The city had taken a beating, with the northeastern corner mostly reduced to rubble, and several buildings in the vicinity on fire. Civilians, an alien race called the Shuma who were tall and thin but deceptively strong, were working to dig out their fellow citizens from the rubble while trying to avoid the few Galra who were left, cornered and angry and fighting viciously.

Keith had chased two such Galra into a crumbling building, not realizing that the front of it was engulfed in flames. The fight hadn't taken long, only a few minutes, but by then the heat had intensified, and he ran back out the way he came in once he had defeated the Galra soldiers and seen that there didn't seem to be any civilians inside.

He was just coming around the side of the building when he heard Shiro's voice, high and panicked over the sound of the fire.

"Keith? _Keith!"_

Keith stepped around to the front of the building just in time to take in the scene there: Pidge, clutching at Shiro's arm, as if trying to hold him back. Shiro, terrified in a way Keith had never seen before.

"Shiro, I'm-"

He was yelling, but they couldn't hear him, not over the raging flames and the sound of parts of the building collapsing inside. Before Keith could wave to get his attention Shiro shook Pidge off, causing her to stumble back as he ran straight into the roaring inferno.

Keith could only watch helplessly as his world disappeared into the flames.

He'd always wondered, in a morbid sort of way, how the scene had played out when his father died. He knew the story, of course -- a child, stuck upstairs in a house fire. The chief had determined the scene too unsafe to send anyone back in, but Keith's dad hadn't listened. He'd run right in after her, and managed to toss her out a window to safety before the roof collapsed on him.

Keith had envisioned it too many times, how it would have looked if he'd been there watching. How his father would have run in, no hesitation. How Keith would have stood there, waiting, for him to come back out. How that never would have happened.

He’d spent so much time as a kid imagining that moment that he could almost summon a memory of the heat, the smell of the burning wood, the panic he’d felt. It was all false memories, of course; Keith had been asleep and oblivious at the time at their home out in the desert.

He’d never been allowed to see his father’s body, so of course he’d always imagined the worst, and now he could only imagine Shiro like that — blackened and charred, face contorted in pain, crumbling to ash at the slightest touch.

Keith couldn’t draw a breath, couldn’t think, couldn’t _move_. He was so frozen in horror that Pidge noticed him before he could move.

“Shiro! Shiro, he’s out here! He’s safe!” Her voice was muffled, but it was enough to snap Keith out of it, and he was sprinting for the front entrance that Shiro had disappeared into. Pidge tried to snatch at his arm, but he evaded her easily, darting through the door without a second thought — and right into Shiro.

Embers fell around them as they grasped at each other’s arms, eyes wide as they stared at each other for the space of a heartbeat. Shiro snapped out of it first, flinching at the sound of a beam snapping behind him.

“Out, out!” he said, pushing Keith ahead of him. Keith turned, leaving one hand on Shiro’s arm, as if to drag him out, but Shiro ran after him without protest. The two tumbled out of the building as something inside collapsed, sending up a sudden gout of flame.

They made it to the street before Keith’s legs gave out underneath him, his knees suddenly weak with relief. He still didn’t let go of Shiro’s arm, causing the taller man to stumble to a stop beside him.

Shiro fell to his knees beside Keith, yanking his helmet off. “Are you okay?” he demanded. Keith blinked at Shiro, not quite processing what he had said. Shiro pulled Keith’s helmet off, much more carefully than he had his own, running his hand over the side of Keith’s head as if checking for injuries. “Keith, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Keith croaked, his voice hoarse.

"Your comm went offline while you were in the building," Shiro said, chest heaving as he drew in the clean oxygen -- even thirty seconds inside the burning building had been enough to take in some smoke. "We couldn't see where you were, I thought you were trapped in there, I thought-"

In the back of his mind, Keith dimly remembered taking a blow to his helmet, and suddenly it made sense why none of them had just reached out to him via the comms -- they _couldn't_. He couldn't focus on that, though, not now.

"You just ran in," Keith said. "It was on _fire_ , and you just fucking-"

"I thought you were in there, Keith, what was I supposed to-"

"You ran into the _fire_ , Shiro!" Keith was yelling at this point, and the other paladins who had started heading their way slowed down, as if realizing they didn't need to intrude right now. There was a moment of tense silence as Shiro's eyes widened in realization.

"Oh, Keith," he breathed, and then he was hauling him close. Keith wrapped his arms around the larger man without even thinking, and realized as he turned his face into Shiro's neck that at some point tears had started running down his face. "I'm sorry," Shiro said, his voice low and close to Keith's ear. "I'm sorry, I didn't think- but I thought you were in there. I had to go in. But I'm safe, now, right?" He pulled back enough that he could look Keith in the eye. "We're both fine."

Keith nodded, already feeling a little stupid for his breakdown.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, I'm being dumb-"

"No," Shiro said firmly. "You're not." He reached up, wiping a few stray tears off of Keith's face, and Keith fought the urge to lean into the touch. He looked up, seeing the rest of the team hovering nearby. "I think we're almost done down here. Are you good for now?" Keith nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good." He knew he'd be replaying that image of Shiro running into the fire in his dreams, but he was fine for now. Shiro gave him a searching look, but seemed satisfied by whatever he saw, and stood, offering a hand to help Keith up before he started asking for reports from the others so they could wrap it up.

Hours later, the two were sitting in Shiro's room. They were both sitting on the bed next to each other, backs against the wall, in a companionable silence. Keith broke first.

"I know we have dangerous jobs," he started. "And I know we have to protect each other. But I don't like you doing stupid shit to try to save me." Shiro rolled his head to the side to pin Keith with a flat look.

"That's rich, coming from you. Remind me, who was it that broke into a secure facility, blew up Garrison equipment, and took out top brass to free me?"

Keith scowled. "That's different."

"How so?" Shiro challenged.

And what could Keith say to that? _You mean more to me than I ever will to you. I don't want to live in a universe you're not in. I know you love me, but not in the way that I love you. I need you to be safe._

That's when Keith remembered another moment from the afternoon. Right before his world had temporarily stopped turning, he'd gotten a glimpse of the sheer terror on Shiro's face, heard the panic in his voice as he'd screamed Keith's name before running in.

Something shifted, realigned, slotted into place in Keith's mind. Something that made him think that it was possible that things between them didn't need to be as complicated as he'd assumed.

The silence had dragged on too long, but still Shiro waited, watching him patiently.

"Maybe," Keith said slowly, raising his eyes to meet Shiro's, "maybe it's not as different as I thought."

Shiro nodded slowly, meeting Keith's eyes evenly. "I think maybe it's not," he agreed. Keith didn't bother hiding his smile as Shiro leaned forward, pressing his forehead to Keith's.

  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments are always appreciated.
> 
> I’m @B1ackPa1adins on both Twitter and Tumblr if you want to come scream about your Sheith emotions with me!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Love Through the Flames (We'll Be Carrying Each Other Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19154053) by [Airawyn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Airawyn/pseuds/Airawyn)




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